Learning Bathroom Design from the Experts in London

Automagical Bathroom Lighting
My good friend and fellow London bathroom designer Donna is a true "early adopter" in home automation technologies. Recently I had a chance to chat with her about how she finds the "touch-of-a-button" home automation scheme she is currently testing out. She reported to me that it can be extremely convenient, but it's not completely flawless quite yet. As a bathroom designer herself, she loves to be able to select different mood lighting schemes for the bathrooms in her London residence. We discovered that our respective bathroom design teams will both preferentially recommend Crestron systems because they are so flexible and offer many budget options. The Crestron lineup even comes with a special media plug-in that allows our clients to store music and video on the Internet and automagically pipe it into the audiovisual system that is part of their bathroom design!


Multi-function Bathrooms
Our most cutting-edge London bathroom design clients are always seeking out the latest and greatest innovations. In our opinion, the one thing that no bathroom design should be without is "attitude" - and that often means a multi-function approach! Bathroom designs are no longer simply about showering, makeup, shaving and luxuriating - our clients crave interesting wall treatments or paintwork, clever but practical storage zones, audiovisual services, and underfloor heating for long sessions in front of the makeup mirror. Some of our latest "green bathroom" design schemes in London even include built-in wastebaskets that are divided into different compartments for easy recycling! Otherwise it can be all too easy to forget to recycle the huge number of discarded containers that often comes from a busy family bathroom.


Bathroom Countertops
Just recently I read an article online about the best countertops for bathroom designs, and I thought I should write a quick blog post here to offer my perspective on this critical question. Personally, I adore Corian or CeasarStone bathroom countertops. These options are supremely workable, sophisticated and available in a wide range of colours. We have even suggested bathroom designs with these countertops in high-gloss white and they have looked stunning. For more adventurous clients, our London bathroom design team has been known to recommend stainless steel, natural stone, or plastic with metal edgework for a "retro" look. But as with so many bathroom design questions, it often comes down to beautiful versus workable. Natural stone requires so much care to avoid scratches and maintain the desired look that we often point our London bathroom design clients in the direction of synthetic alternatives.


Fabric in the Bathroom
In the earliest days of bathroom design, built-in fabrics in bathrooms used to be a huge "no-no." But in recent years that has changed with the emergence of shower curtains, window fabrics and comfort bathmats. But the bathroom design teams at our London-based firm always remind our clients that there are a few "caveats" to using fabrics in bathrooms. First and foremost, the fabric must be lined and interlined to protect it from fading and disintegration caused by repeated water or steam exposure. If we are covering a sunny window, silk is probably the very worst material to use, but even that can work if we specify a robust lining/interlining treatment in the bathroom design master plan. Similarly, textured fabric sunshades can look very classy beneath the primary curtain or Venetian blinds. My London bathroom design team reminded me just the other day of one last top tip: treating the window with an ultraviolet or one-way coating can further help protect bathroom fabrics from fading, while also enhancing homeowner privacy.